Aesir

Sorry about posting in a place not completely where it should be but i have search everywhere and cant find my problem at all.

For starters i just took the air filter box and battery out to fix my radiator. I used to part glue to fix a broken hose attachment on the radiator that goes to the overflow tank. After putting the car back together it didnt want to start right away. I turned the key off and back on again an tried starting it again. it then started but would rev up to 4k and then got back down to about 3k and rev back up to 4k. With that going on i looked to make sure everything was hooked back up and it is. i then tried to rev the motor myself. It wouldnt respond to me pushing on the petal at all. i have reset the battery and just let it sit there for 2-3 mins and it doesnt change.

2004 rx8 103000 miles 6spd new plugs and wires new radiator on the way.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

You can't glue that nipple. Plenty of people break it trying to replace the coolant bottle and every single time they have to replace the radiator too. The hose is stronger than the nipple on the radiator.

Sounds like you put it into limp mode somehow, and I can't think of anything you might have touched that would have caused that. Can you walk through exactly what you did more thoroughly? Painstakingly thoroughly would probably be the right way to describe it.

tonik

OP replace your radiator..you dont want to overheat your engine
Just because your crazy glue is not holding

Aesir

I first took out the battery. Then all of the box around it expected the button plate. I then removed all wires and vacuum hoses off the air cleaner box. i then proseced to take it out. i slow removed it to make sure that all the wires and hoses were taken off. i then set it on the ground with everything else. i did leave the intake hose with the sensors on the intake. After that i took off the overflow take. and then proseced to clean up the hole where the radiation hose goes. i got a threaded brass fitting from Ace hardware. i sanded the radiator and the brass fitting. i bought a two part jb weld paste so that i could get it sealed in there. i then mixed it up and put it together. after the 4 hour cure time i then put the car back together starting with the overflow, air cleaner box, reconecting all the wires and the hoses even the one that runs under the filter and out the front of the box. then i put the battey box together and put the battery back in and the filled up the radiator. i then tried to start the car and it just spins over and over. So i waited 3 sec with the key off and out and then tried it again. This time is started but very slow (low rpms) and then climbed up to the 4k and would ping back and foward for 4k to 3k as fast as it could. i then turned it off. i went back to see if i forget something and didnt find anything. so i tried it again. still doing it. i let is sit there for 2-3 mins hoping it would clear up but didnt. i then turned it off and took the battery out and put it back in to see if it would reset the computer and it still does it.

I hope that is the details you needed. if you need more let me know. the check engine light is on but have no way to check it. it just flashes very fast. I am okay when working on cars just enough to get by and have used this page to find out anything i need but cant find out what this is. i have owned the car to just over a years and love it.

kevinande

As has been stated before, replace the radiator. Your repair will fail, the engine will overheat and then you will have bigger problems. If you have reset everything (20 stomps on the brake pedal), the only thing I can think of is that you're trying to rev the car too high when it's cold. STOP DOING THAT! The car is programmed to not rev over 4k when it's cold. let it warm up then try to rev it. Hopefully that's your problem. Then go get a radiator.

Aesir

Maybe i didnt say it right. The car once started will rev to 4k and the back down to 3k over and over with no one in the car at all. if you use the gas petal to see if you can rev it to get it to stop the car doesnt even respond to you using the petal at all. i let it sit for 2-3 mins of it just revving over and over again with on one touching the gas at all. And the new radiator will be here Friday.

kevinande

Go back through all the components you disconnected and make certain all connectors are reconnected and seated properly. I would take a good look at the MAF sensor. Make certain it is connected properly, it is not dirty, and ensure that the accordion hose is fitted properly over the intake and the air filter box. That's all I can think of at the moment. if it was runnig fine before you started, it is something that you disconnected.

Aesir

It was idling ruff. but other then that the car was running good. i have checked everything several times to make sure it is sealed. and what would i be looking for on the MAF. i am a computer person not car guy but i am willing to learn how to repair my own cars.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

The ECU will disable the throttle pedal input under certain limp conditions. You have clearly triggered one of them, and there is no reason you would have for the repairs you mention. Since you shouldn't have touched anything that might trigger it, we don't really have much of an idea of what you did extra that you didn't have to. Maybe check the connection at the throttle and if it's connected, disconnect and clean it?


Trust us on that radiator. You WILL lose your engine unless you replace the radiator. The glue will not hold up to the heat it will see, and when it fails, you will have MAYBE 3 seconds before you suffer critical engine damage, and chances are you won't even know it has started. Please do it right....

kevinande

There is not much to it. There is an inexpensive cleaner that you spray on it. it's possible that you got some dirt or dust on it. Use the cleaner don't try to clean it by touching it, you may just end up getting a new one. Of course you have to remove the air intake again to access it.

Aesir

I will be waiting for the new radiation but i still not sure on what to be cleaning on the throttle and how. If you know a link on how to do it i would gladly like it. And once again im not very mechanically inclined i am sorry if i sound whiny.

And thank you all for helping i cant really do much to it right now because it is purring rain in Florida right now.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

I didn't say clean the throttle. You are a computer guy, so ... read completely!

I said the throttle connector. There is a connector on the side of the throttle that handles the control. You don't have to remove anything to get to it, and you shouldn't have disconnected it, but it's the only think i can think of in the area that would produce that kind of limp mode, so maybe you did accidentally? Just guessing. You shouldn't have this problem at all, so something else was done that you haven't told us about yet.

Aesir

As far as i know what i did i didnt disconnect anything else. The only other thing i can say was it was over heating some when i got home and found out that the radiation was broken. but just enough to move the needle a little past where it was. The biggest sign something was wrong was i had radiator fluid evaporating from the front of my car. With a white cloud of smoke coming from under the hood.

So for the fact that the car still starts i didnt think i did any damage. And from my understanding of damage from over heating for other cars not RX8. You would get water in the engine and loss of comprestion. Not a car the will rev over and over again.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

You need to re-learn your facts....

The needle doesn't start moving until 235F, and coolant seals can fail as soon as 220F. Yes, this is a 15F window where damage can occur without you knowing about it.

And a coolant seal failure isn't a sudden obvious failure. It causes a leak of coolant into the housing continually, which collects and eats away at the engine when it's off, and fouls the ignition system when it's on. It won't manifest as sudden engine seizing or a bursting cloud of steam from a failed head gasket. A failed coolant seal can take as long as 20,000 miles before it damages enough of the engine to cause it to fail a compression test, but it WILL happen, and the earlier the failure is caught the better the chance at being able to rebuild the engine rather than having to junk the whole thing and starting over.

In the past year or two, I have seen more engine failures from overheating than any other source, as people continually fail to maintain their cooling systems and have no idea how easy it is to kill an engine from a cooling system failure.


Please don't take this lightly. It really is very very serious. You may have been lucky and escape damage from what you already saw, but there is no garuantee. Your only way of knowing at the moment is to run a series of tests to find out.

Aesir

I not trying to take any of this lightly. I am just trying to find out what it is that i need to do. If i need to do more tests i will i was just trying to start with this. I didnt know that other people tried fixing the radiation it wasnt something i looked up. i just thought of it on the spot as a fix for the time being so i did have to take the next 3 days off work. I am a person that does look into thing that he doesnt know how to do to learn how to do them. I have been using this page for the past year for anything that i dont know about this car and can usaully find it just by searching. this is my first post because i couldnt find anything about such a thing on here before.

For the facts that i dont know that is why I'm looking to all of you to see what it is i need to do.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

I don't mean to give the impression that I'm coming down hard on you for asking, just people gave you the radiator replacement information and it seemed like you were brushing it off as not important. I wanted to be sure that you didn't.


The test you will need to do are:
- Once your radiator is replaced, get a coolant system pressure test. If it fails, you still have a cooling system failure somewhere, OR a coolant seal failure inside the engine.
- If you let the car sit overnight, or a few days max, then crank the engine over with the gas pedal to the floor to cut fuel, then pull the plugs, there shouldn't be anything on them. If coolant is on them, you have a coolant seal failure
- If you pull an oil sample after a few hundred miles of driving and have it tested (Blackstone Labs is a preferred test lab) and there is coolant in the oil, then you have a coolant seal failure.
- If you test the coolant for combustion gases and find any, you have a coolant seal failure.

You have to pass all tests to confirm that you didn't suffer a coolant seal failure, fail even one and it means a new or rebuilt engine.

Aesir

Well i thank you for that then, because if i hadnt come on here and the car started up just fine then i would have been driving it until i got the new one in.

If i do need to rebuild the engine how hard would the be. i have rebuild a toyota 22R before and my dad has a shop where i could do it, but neither him or any of the people he knows has done anything with rotary engines.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

There are only 8 major pieces in the engine, but the little bits are numerous and there is quite a bit of value in having someone experienced do it for you. A lot to read up on there before you start tackling it.

Aesir

I was just looking at the rebuild kits and they are pricy. I live in orlando Florida and cant really find and any one in this area that has experience. there are people that say they would work on them but have not experience working on one before. there is one shop that sell parts for the RX8 and they race theirs. But i didnt see anywhere on the site that they fix rotarys.

If you have any ideas i would be open.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

There are really only 3 rebuilders in the US that have a solid reputation that doesn't have periodic problems. A 4th that used to rebuild now only sells engines. Two of those 4 are in the southeast US: Pettit in Miami builds great engines, and Mazmart in Atlanta is the cheapest source of Mazda reman engines (~$3,300 starting, plus shipping and core charge).

Aesir

I might have to try it myself. it would take me some time to save up that much money.

Are there any DIY's that you know of that i can study so i could get a head start if it needs to be rebuilt?

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Several DIY guides on here, start doing some searching Start with a few stickies in the Tech section.

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Might want to pull the OMP pump plugs and clean them with some electrical cleaner....

If the OMP goes into limp mode the throttle won't work

You might want to check your ECT sensor as well...that will cause limp mode as well....if you have an OBD11 scanner you can check the ECT sensor with the motor cold...it should read ambient temp....to really check it pull it and put it in known temp almost boiling water and check it at that temp

Big steam isn't a good thing......

Aesir

I figure out what it is i did. When i had the car a part it started to rain and i have my window open. so i put the battery in with the MAF off still so i could roll up the window.

If that is what did it how would i reset the computer for it to know that every thing is still good?

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Not likely a problem. Unhook battery...and reconnect MAF.....